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Tuesday, 19 July 2016

Bribery: EFCC to prosecute suspended judge, Mohammed Yunusa

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is set to charge suspended Federal High Court judge, Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who the National Judicial Commission recently recommended for retirement.

The EFCC had, in February, lodged a complaint of alleged misconduct against Yunusa before the NJC.

Yunusa first became the subject of an EFCC investigation when the commission was investigating a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Rickey Tarfa, who is on trial for allegedly offering gratification to a public official.

The EFCC also stated that from its investigations, Tarfa’s law firm, Rickey Tarfa & Co., with Access Bank account number 0000964760, paid N225,000 into Justice Yunusa’s bank account.

The commission had further alleged that “the N225, 000 was accepted and acknowledged by Justice Yunusa in a text message to Tarfa wherein he said, “Thank you my senior advocate.”

However, Tarfa stated in an affidavit he filed before a Federal High Court in Lagos, that the money was a contribution by some friends of Justice Yunusa towards the funeral rites of his father-in-law, Audi Damasa.

Apart from the Tarfa case, the NJC also received two petitions against the judge in respect of some matters – Honeywell v ECOBANK and Sterling Bank v Joma Frozen Foods Product Limited.

The judge was also reportedly sanctioned for his decision to grant an interlocutory injunction stopping the EFCC from investigating and arresting Senator Stella Oduah, a former Minister of Aviation, who was accused of embezzlement of public funds and acts of fraud in contracts.

In a petition by Civil Society Network Against Corruption, the group accused the judge of consistent refusal to abide by judicial precedents laid down by the apex court in granting orders and injunctions against the EFCC.